Scotland is rather interested in Scottishness these days. When independence talk is in the air, now is a good time to call on Sir Walter Scott, the man who told 19th-century Scots how they should think of their history, and wrote it himself.

Scott’s novels and poems took Europe by storm. More than two dozen operas were inspired by Scott, the first of which was Rossini’sLa donna del lago, which had its premiere 1819. Scott’s original poem, The Lady of the Lake, encapsulates his uncanny ability to spin a story with which he can paint a vast landscape so natural that it seems to have been there all along – misty and dark, thrilling and dangerous.

Now is just the right moment to recover for opera audiences the cultural significance of the poem. It is much more than a drama of love, says John Fulljames, whose new Royal Opera’s production of La donna del lago is currently on stage at Covent Garden. ‘The Lady of the Lake is about King James’s crowning, his legitimacy and his right to rule. We are talking about how we tell the national story.’

In Scott’s poem, Elena (Ellen) is the beautiful lady on the island, daughter of the king’s sworn enemy, who encounters James V in disguise. She is the agent of reconciliation in the realm, and simultaneously finds love. All ends peacefully, and happily. It is easy to see Scotland herself in the character of Ellen. Scott’s desire - in reinventing a blazing history of Highland feuds, warring ambition and passionate love - was to give Scotland confidence in its own story, not to incite rebellion.

In his new production, John Fulljames interprets the piece as being about the making of history:

Scott invites his readers to join him in imagining a national past, constructed partly from landscape and partly from the tokens of history. He argues that a national story is essential, because without one, a nation has no legitimacy and so no stability. Meanwhile the love story offers a rather utopian, fairy-tale view of how political conflict can be resolved into national peace."

So La donna del lago, first and foremost a love story, has made a timely return to Covent Garden. I saw the last production, with Frederica von Stade and Marilyn Horne, in 1985 on one of its rare UK outings. The opera, Rossini at his most gloriously melodic, is perfectly suited to the moment because it reminds us how easily Scott’s poetry and prose fitted into the politics of the time.

Elena on her island will emerge on the stage as a figure who carries Scotland with her, its particular story and its myths and legends. La donna del lago is an opera in which atmosphere matters as much as plot.

La donna del lago runs until 11 June. Tickets are sold out though returns may become available.
The production is sponsored by the Peter Moores Foundation and the Friends of Covent Garden with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Hélène and Jean Peters, Judith Portrait and Susan and John Singer. The Production Director generously supported by Hamish and Sophie Forsyth.

When you think of the Royal Opera House people naturally think of Covent Garden but in recent times Thurrock (on the River Thames to the East of London) has become another key location for the ROH. It's been two and a half years since ROH's Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop opened as the first element of the High House Production Park in Purfleet, alongside the wonderfully restored High House Farm buildings.

Since then the Workshop has produced scenery for Main Stage productions including epic scale stagings of Les Troyens and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and we're proud that when a finished production is in front of thousands at Covent Garden, it was 'made in Thurrock'. The High House Production Park has also been hugely successful in providing training for our apprentices.

We're now looking into whether we can increase our production operations at the High House Production Park by building a facility that would supplement our costume making operation within the Royal Opera House, and store costumes from both our current ballet and opera productions, and our historic collections.

We're hoping that, by working in partnership with others, we'll be able to establish the new building as hub for both for learning and training in costume, and for sharing knowledge with creative industries across the Eastern region about sustainable production and business practice.

This would add an exciting new element to the High House Production Park which, with the National Skills Academy's new Backstage Centre now fully operational and Acme's Artists' Studios due to open later in the summer, has firmly established itself as a vibrant centre for creative industries.

Take a look behind the scenes in Thurrock, and at our Costume Department in Covent Garden: